Teaching
Whenever someone asks me what I do, without even thinking I immediately say, “I’m an English teacher,” then I remember to add all the other work I do, such as being a grad student, researching, etc. I just flat-out love teaching. Other than doing fieldwork, there is nothing that is quite as invigorating as working with a group of youth or adults trying to learn something. (Or as frustrating at times, as any teacher knows full well.) And, honestly, that’s why I switched from Literary Studies to Literacy Studies, actually. I realized as I was teaching Freshman Comp, Tech Writing, and Intro to Lit at the University of Wyoming that I wanted to spend my time and energy thinking about how’s and why’s of teaching more than the how’s and why’s of literature itself. I wanted to work with the interactions between people as learning is taking place. Recently, in teaching my preservice Education students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I see in them the same type of enthusiasm that I have for teaching, and I have spent my time with them trying to help them learn how to teach without losing it. A tough battle, sure, but it’s worth it.
